THE story of the loves of Lailî and Majnûn is one of the
most popular in the East. There are several poems on the
same subject by different authors, but that by Nizámi is
considered the best; and I believe this is the first time it
has appeared in the European language.

Every nation has its favourite tales of love as well as
chivalry. France and Italy have their Abelard and Eloisa,
their Petrarch and Laura; and Arabia has its Lailî and
Majnûn, the beautiful record of whose sorrows is constant­ly
referred to, throughout the East, as an immortal ex­ample
of the most faithful love. The reader will, I think, be
pleased with the manner in which the Persian poet has
depicted the character of a frantic lover, and also the ten­der
affections of his Lailî. The sentiments will be found
to differ very little from those of the Western world. Hu­man
nature is every where the same.

Nizámi is said to be a native of Ganja, or Kenja, near
Tefflis, and flourished in the twelfth century, or sixth of
the Mohammedan era. He died about the 597th year of the
Hijrah; but no mention is made where he was buried.

Besides Lailî and Majnûn, he wrote the story of Khosrú
and Shirín, the Treasury of Secrets, and some other works.
His last and most considerable poem was the Sekandar-Nama,
an epic, celebrating the career of Alexander the
Great. At the period it was finished, he is reported to
have been more than sixty years of age.

Nizámi was eminently distinguished through life for
his rigid sanctity, which formed indeed the peculiarity of
his character, cherishing, as he did at the same time, the
amatory or metaphysical sentiments which pervade his
romantic poem of Lailî and Majnûn. But he may have
been a Súfi, and aimed at describing the passions of the
soul in its progress to eternity. The Odes of Hafiz have
been supposed to have a similar spiritual object!

In honour of Nizámi, it is related that Ata Beg was
desirous of forming and cultivating an acquaintance with
him, and with that view ordered one of his courtiers to
request his attendance. But it was replied, that Nizámi,
being an austere recluse, studiously avoided all intercourse
with princes. Ata Beg, on hearing this, and suspecting
that the extreme piety and abstinence of Nizámi were
affected, waited upon him in great pomp for the purpose
of tempting and seducing him from his obscure retreat;
but the result was highly favourable to the poet; and the
prince ever afterwards looked upon him as a truly holy
man, frequently visiting him, and treating him with the
most profound respect and veneration. Nizámi also receiv­ed
many substantial proofs of the admiration in which
his genius and learning were held. On one occasion, five
thousand dinars were sent to him, and on another he was
presented with an estate consisting of fourteen villages.
The brief notice in Dowlat Shah's account of the Poets of
Persia represents him as the finest writer of the age in
which he lived. Hafiz thus speaks of him:—